Bloated councils are cheating democracy

There will be almost unmitigated misery. So boasted the Labour leader of Manchester City Council, Sir Richard Leese, this week in response to the need to reduce his authority’s vast budget.

Duly, he announced rubbish will only be collected once a fortnight, five libraries will be axed and the city will close all its public lavatories bar one. There was no other option, the council insisted.

Boast: Labour leader of Manchester City Council, Sir Richard Leese, said this week that there will be almost unmitigated misery due to the need to reduce his authority¿s vast budget

Oh yes, and while its chief executive is paid £232,000 a year, 96 councillors last year received allowances of £1.97million – an average of more than £20,000 each.

No, councillors are not cutting valued frontline services because they have to: they are seeking to score ideological points by blaming the Tory-led government for the cuts, while ensuring their own lavish perks are protected.

And make no mistake: such cynical acts are being deployed by councils across the land. Only this week, 88 senior Liberal Democrats, including 17 local authority leaders, demanded the Coalition slow the pace of the spending cuts, and accused Nick Clegg of ‘letting them down’ by giving his support to the Conservatives.

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At no stage do these council leaders —who, incidentally, run the country’s most wasteful local authorities — explain how Britain is going to pay off the £1trillion debt that, unless dealt with, will haunt the lives of our grandchildren.

Nor do they acknowledge how the private sector made far deeper cuts during the recession than those currently expected of Town Halls.

The sad truth is there is no democratic accountability in our local authorities.

Ever since Margaret Thatcher lost the poll tax argument, they have had the luxury of spending money without having to raise it.

Three-quarters of Town Hall funding comes direct from central government. Council Tax, which accounts for the remainder, is capped by ministers.

Thus, councillors — who have become cut off from democratic scrutiny — are relaxed about paying 166 executives more than £150,000 a year because so little of the money is coming direct from local people.

If Town Halls were made to raise the bulk of their money through local taxation rather than Whitehall grants, they would have to justify to their own electors how they were spending it.

They could either stop wasting fortunes on pay, perks and highly dubious jobs or face voters’ anger at the local ballot box.

If they wish to appoint overpaid ‘climate change managers’, and armies of spin doctors, they would have to explain to voters why this is value for money.

That is genuine localism. The first party that truly implements it will make Britain a much more democratic and efficiently-run country.

A return to freedom

The Mail has led the way in highlighting the many liberty-sapping abuses of power perpetrated by the authoritarian Labour government.

One million innocents logged on the world’s biggest DNA database... town halls using anti-terror powers to spy on families putting rubbish out on the wrong day... overbearing criminal record checks for nine million volunteers and carers...

Truly, all sense of proportionality and common sense was lost. So we applaud the Coalition for yesterday announcing plans to limit state intrusion into the private lives of law-abiding people.

Labour did not make Britain safer. It only succeeded in making it less free.